Oak boards thickness

   / Oak boards thickness #1  

rosso1000

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Apr 20, 2016
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Italy
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Lamborghini
I am planning to cut down several oaks this winter. I will keep some wood for my projects and sell the rest. How thick do I cut my lumber?
 
   / Oak boards thickness #2  
I am planning to cut down several oaks this winter. I will keep some wood for my projects and sell the rest. How thick do I cut my lumber?
Cut it 1". I prefer not planing until I'm ready. If you do plane it to 7/8.
 
   / Oak boards thickness #3  
C'mon -
Give us hints as to what your projects are.

I like 3 to 4 inches for tabletops, 2 inches for trailer decking.
 
   / Oak boards thickness #4  
How big is the log? Will it be quarter, rift or flat sawn?
 
   / Oak boards thickness
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Yeah, I am thinking about 25 mm.

I will be redoing our living room, and sell the rest.

Logs are 50 - 60 cm (20 -23 in) in diameter. Quarter, rift or flat sawn? That's another great question. What would you do?
 
   / Oak boards thickness #6  
With no idea of quanity required I'd go with flat saw at one inch for the living room with one log. With the other log I'd go for a mix of cuts with some three inch quarter sawn and the rest cut flat or rift sawn to make for the best use of the log.
 
   / Oak boards thickness #7  
I had a few logs cut 4 years ago and had it all cut 1".

1" might be easier to sell later and more projects to use it on unless you had something specific a thicker piece would be used for.
 
   / Oak boards thickness #8  
As a sawyer, I can assure you that more wood has been wasted from being cut too thin in the first place, than cut too thick!

There's a reason the "standard" lumber thickness off the mill is 5/4. (I-1/4")

I mill my lumber 5/4 and AFTER it's dry and ready to use, I plane it to fit the job it's headed too.

SR
 
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   / Oak boards thickness #9  
As a sawyer, I can assure you that more wood has been wasted from being cut too this in the first place, than cut too thick!

There's a reason the "standard" lumber thickness off the mill is 5/4. (I-1/4")

I mill my lumber 5/4 and AFTER it's dry and ready to use, I plane it to fit the job it's headed too.

SR
Agreed... 5/4 rough sawn unless you have specific projects in mind that require thicker.
 
   / Oak boards thickness #10  
Most hardwood lumber is sawed on the 'quarter' system...4/4, 5/4, 6/4, etc. Each scale has an 1/8" built into it because old circle mills were notoriously inaccurate, and the end user, such as flooring mills for example, wanted to end up with a solid 3/4" thickness for their flooring after planing.

That means if you saw 4/4 lumber, you "should" end up with a green board 1 1/8" thick. You'll lose maybe a 1/32-1/16 of thickness in drying, leaving plenty to plane to give a 3/4" finish.

Unless you know in advance you have a project requiring 5/4 or thicker lumber, cutting the extra thickness to later pile it up in planer chips is a waste of wood, in my opinion.

I saw on a bandmill, for myself mostly, and I grade as I saw the log. The better grade stuff, I saw on the quarter system. The heart wood, and lower grade logs, I saw on the inch scale, which after saw kerf and drying, leaves me about a 7/8" board. Since I'm going to use the lower grade stuff for sheathing or pallets, or boxes and not plane it, that works fine
 

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